Poland’s president defies new government in battle over control of state media
PBS NewsHourDec 28, 2023
Polish Culture Minister to Liquidate State Media Outlets
The Facts
Polish Culture Minister Bartlomiej Sienkiewicz announced Wednesday that he will liquidate all public media, which consists of Telewizja Polska SA, Polskie Radio SA, and Polska Agencja Prasowa SA. He said his decision would "carry out the necessary restructuring and prevent layoffs of employees."
This follows the Culture Minister's decision last week to take the 24-hour public news station, TVP Info, off the air and fire the boards of all public media. In response, the Law and Justice (PiS) party called the move "illegal" and held sit-in protests. On Wednesday, Pres. Andrzej Duda, a member of PiS, then vetoed a 3B zloty (roughly $766M) public media funding bill.
The Spin
Left narrative
Though Donald Tusk won the hearts of Poland's majority through his message of unity and reinstating democratic norms, the PiS is still trying to dismantle his agenda through biased conservative news coverage. The PiS has long used public media to propagate xenophobic and homophobic disinformation, and they're hoping to continue to leverage their media control ahead of next year's local and European Parliament elections.
Right narrative
While the European establishment claims Poland was under a corrupt conservative media regime, the truth is that TVP was the last place Polish citizens could find any conservative commentary. As soon as he entered office, Tusk began firing virtually every right-leaning pundit in the name of 'restoring democracy.' Tusk, at the behest of his European Parliament masters, also began reshaping the judiciary to push the establishment's agenda. The previous TVP was fighting for free speech and democracy; Tusk is destroying it.
Nerd narrative
There's a 24% chance that Poland will legalize gay marriage by 2030, according to the Metaculus prediction community.